Saturday, July 30, 2016

A sarcophagus is like a very fancy coffin, a place where the body of someone rich or powerful was buried after they died.
If someone was very famous, their sarcophagus would have a lot of art and sculptures on it.

This one was made of marble, and has some marks on it showing that it was painted in color long ago but has faded.

The carvings tell a story of Alexander the Great fighting the Persians, over 2,300 years ago.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

When a blacksmith has a piece of hot metal, there are a few different types of hammers they can use.

One is called a ball-peen hammer.
This hammer has one flat side, and one rounded ball shaped side.

Peening metal means to hit the metal with a hammer to bend or shape it.
Because the one side of the ball-peen hammer is ball shaped, it will bend and shape the metal differently than a flat hammer.

The ball shaped side has a few different uses.
It can be used to make small marks in the metal for a different look.
It can help hammer small nails called rivets into holes.
It can help mush the metal up against corner pieces.

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

This is the longest venomous snake in the world, and can grow up to 18 feet long.
They have a great sense of smell and can smell their prey from 300 feet away.
When they get upset, they will stand up and flare out the hood on their head to look bigger.

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Another famous Hellenistic Greek sculpture is the Lady In Blue, also known as Dame en Bleu.

This type of sculpture is called a Tanagra figurine, because it was made in a town of Tanagra Greece, where artists made many of the same type of sculpture long ago.

The sculptures were painted with a liquid white coating, and then painted over with other colors like blue, red, pink, yellow or brown.

The tanagra figurines were sculptures of real women and men just wearing normal clothes, with hats, wreaths or fans.
They were made in layers, so there would be a sculpture for the clothing that was made over top of the sculpture of the person.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

This is a small round hole by the edge, used to punch holes in the metal.
The blacksmith would put the piece of metal over the hole, then hold a tool like a nail over the metal and hit it with a hammer to make a hole in the metal.
(from: wikipedia - anvil)

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

This snake is not venomous, it is a boa so it uses its body to crush prey.
It is golden yellow around the head and middle, with black zig zags, and it turns black towards the tail.
It can grow up to around 6 feet.

The forest where these snakes live is being destroyed, so there are not many of them left.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

This was also made by the famous sculptor Phidias, who made the famous Zeus statue.
It was over 70 feet tall, and made of ivory and gold.
A fancy word for a statue made of ivory and gold is Chryselephantine.
The arms and face were made of ivory, and the gown and other parts were gold.

When the Romans came and took over, they destroyed the statue, but there were many writings about it, and some drawings.

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Sidewinders get their name by the interesting way that they move around.
Most snakes move along the ground face first, with their tail following along.
Sidewinders move facing sideways, like their face to the left and their tail to the right.
This helps them move better in wind blown desert sand, and when they walk they leave a J shape in the sand.

Saturday, July 2, 2016

This statue was so famous that it was listed as one of the seven wonders of the world.
There are drawings of the sculpture, and writings about it, but it was destroyed in a fire over a thousand years ago.
Because it was so famous, some people have tried to make copies of what they thought it looked like back then.
It was also made by Phidias, the famous Greek sculptor.